The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-01-04
GOOD WRITING PAPER.
A DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIOUS
PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE.

Cutting the Rags into Pieces-In the
Cleansing Observation-Disclosures Of the
Rags to Pulp-BIueing, Sizing and
Calendering.
The materials for good writing paper are
cotton and linen rags of domestic gathering,
supplemented by importations. The rags
| come to the mill in bales and are assorted in
several grades and then cut into pieces by
hand. The cutting is done by girls and
women, sitting in front of q bench, to which
is fixed a short blade like q small scythe
blade. The rags, picked up by the handful,
are drawn across the keen edge with great
rapidity, the operator occasionally using q
sandstone rifle just as the mower does, so that
the dusty room resembles, to the ear, q field
of busy mowers. At a second sorting all the
buttons, pins. hooks and eyes and harsh
seams are removed. The rags then go to q
duster, large cylinder Of woven wire, in
side of which is q shaft carrying a number Of
blades of plate iron set in a spiral form on
the shaft and revolving at a rate of speed
higher than that of the outer cylinder. This
difference of speed, with the spiral setting
of the blades Msures a constant stirring up
of the rags, and their gradual progress from
one end to the other of the cylinder, and their
final discharge at the open end
The busted rags then go into a rotary
boiler made of boiler iron OF steel, revolving
on journals, one of which is hollow and ad
mits steam at a pressure Of from forty to
sixty pounds to the square inch, correspond
ing according to Regnault's tables to a heat
Of from ~ to 3OS degrees Fahrenheit. With
the rags is introduced a certain quantity Of
lime water to assist in the cleaning, the OBJ
ject being to start the color well as the
dirt; for white writing paper is made from
colored rags as well as from white rags; only
the finest note and letter paper being made
from clear white rags These rotating boil
ers are of a capacity of q charge of rags
weighing from 1000 pounds upward. The
boiler is usually rotated by means of a worm
wheel on its solid journal and a worm screw
and it is charged though a manhole that
when i'll place is securely packed.
IN THE CLEANSING TANK.
From this boiler the rags pass to a cleans
ing engine, which is a tank of oval plan, the
walls of which rise about thirty inches from
the floor. The tank is partially divided lor
gtudinally by a straight portion, the ends of
the partition reaching toward the walls of
the tank far enough to leave a space of the
same width that between the partitions
sides and the tanks walls On one side Of
this partition, across the center of the tank,
revolves a toothed drum, carrying blades that
act on the rags as they pass in the trough be-
tween fixed blades at the bottom of the tank
These blades do not cut the rags, but tear
them, thus preserving the fiber. The clean
ing of the rags in the process Of tearing is
facilitated by constant stream of water
On the side opposite from the beater is a ro-
tary sieve of fine mesh that allows the water
to pass, but rejects the rags. The water thus
lifted passes of through the hollow shaft of
the revolving sieve. This, with the action Of
the bladed drum, induces and keeps up q cur
rent around and around the tank. This en-
gine not only cleanses the rags, but reduces
them to a semi-pulpy mass known as "half
stuff, which, although clean, is not purely
white. 1t is bleached with chloride of lime
and again passes through an engine, when the
bleached material, in heaps, resembles solid
snow. After this comes the blueing, if the
paper is to have tint, although what is
called white paper is slightly blued
The pulp is pumped into an elevated tank
from which il is fed to the engine by a deliv-
cry gate capable OF close adjustment, as upon
the amount of pulp fed to the machine de-
pends the ultimate weight of the paper The
| pulp flows on to the face of q roller and Is
passed to an endless apron of fine wire sieve
that has impaired to it a jarring motion, to
discharge, as much as possible, the water,
while the sieve retains the almost impalpable
| pulp. set Of rolls congresses the pulp
| web, which then goes over a series Of boxes
perforated on the side over which the web
| passes, the boxes being exhausted Of air by q
! fan as the web moves. This withdraws the
surplus water that has not been removed ny
! the sieve and rollers.
| SIZING AND CALENDERING.
The sheet, having acquired considerable
tenacity, is dried by passing between rollers
heated by steam Then comes the sizing,
without which the closest textured paper
would not receive ink and not spread . blot.
| The size is the common glue Of commerce
made from rawhide Of cattle, but it Is en-
| ployed hot and quite thin A second partial
| drying, edging Of the continuous web by ro-
| tary shears, and q cutting across into sheets,
completes the operations Of turning liquid,
milky pulp into elastic, continuous sheets Of
q substance almost impermeabls to air.
From "the machine" the sheets, still damp
from the sizing, are removed to drying lofts,
| and are dried by sun and outer air in pleasant
weather, and by steam heat irt inclement
weather. They are then subjected to the
action Of hydraulic presses. They are then
calendered by means of q machine of rolls,
three Of chilled iron and two Of paper The
, paper rolls are formed Of disks of thin
MANILA paper, cut in presses to diameter,
/ with holes through their centers for the re-
ception Of the shaft. These are pressed in
/ place by a hydraulic machine and turned
/ like the iron rolls The surface Of the turned
paper rolls are remarkably smooth.
The sheets. after ironing in the calender
machine. are cut in reams by knife similar
in form and action to that of the French
/ guillotine The sheets are then sorted and
counted, the somewhat defective ones going
to an inferior grade Of paper. The company's
stamp is embossed ON each sheet under a
press.
! Ruled paper has its lines made in a machine
that is essentially self acting. The ink =
| more fluid than that used for writing The
ruling pens are of sheet brass and are semi
4 cylindrical tubes fed from . whole tube to
which the ink rises from a trough by means
/ Of wicks, as oil in an ordinary lamp. The